Terrifying moment Fort Lauderdale crane collapses onto a car driving over a bridge in accident that killed construction worker
A motorist was just inches from death when part of a crane crashed onto their car as they drove along an overpass next to a constru*++ction site.
Parts of the crane plummeted onto the Southeast 3rd Avenue bridge in Fort Lauderdale about 4.30pm on April 4, killing construction worker Jorge De La Torre.
Gemmalyn Castillo was one of three others injured when a massive piece of the crane crushed the passenger side of the taxi she was in.
Newly released video shows the piece of wreckage slam onto the black Tesla sedan, stopping the car in its tracks, along with other around it.
Parts of the crane plummeted onto the Southeast 3rd Avenue bridge in Fort Lauderdale about 4.30pm on April 4
Castillo was in the back seat and suffered 'severe and serious head and facial trauma' when she was thrown around the cabin, her lawyers said.
Video showed the driver jump out of the car, miraculously unharmed, but Castillo was stuck in the back until police extracted her from the seat.
Police bodycam footage, released along with the video, showed paramedics staunching the bleeding from Castillo head wounds as she cried hysterically.
They also spoke to the driver, who told them: 'My mind is pretty messed up... but if I could have my phone?'
Other footage showed police trying to clear the area if anyone who wasn't injured and had a means of getting out of the way.
Newly released video shows the piece of wreckage slam onto the black Tesla sedan, stopping the car in its tracks, along with other around it
Video showed the driver jump out of the car, miraculously unharmed, but Gemmalyn Castillo was stuck in the back until police extracted her from the seat
One policeman told a motorist who stopped on the bridge when the crane fell, but missed his car, that he needed to go 'over there away from the crane'
The man bluntly noted 'it's already fallen' but the cop warned him 'it could keep falling!'
'That thing almost fell on me, ok!' the driver protested.
Construction workers were also filmed saying the crane must have structurally failed as it was being 'stepped' by adding pieces to it to increase its height.
'Something snapped and made that thing fall, because that thing was already in place,' one of the workers said.
De La Torre, who was on the crane, fell to his death and Gregory Garcia, 43, and Carol Zinser, 69, were injured on the ground along with Castillo.
The piece of the crane was caught on dashcam falling onto the bridge
Police bodycam footage showed paramedics staunching the bleeding from Castillo head wounds as she cried hysterically
Castillo was in the back seat and suffered 'severe and serious head and facial trauma' when she was thrown around the cabin, her lawyers said
Mark Cerezin's Tesla was also hit by the crane as he drove behind the other Tesla, but he was uninjured.
'I was driving and I felt a compression, and I looked up and I saw the blue structure coming down, and I slammed on my brakes,' he told NBC at the time.
'It sheared off the front of my Tesla and all the airbags went off - and I'm very lucky to be alive.'
The crane piece fell from a 43-story apartment building that was under construction, planning to house mostly seniors along with shops.
The $151 million project was plagued with delays, lawsuits, and design and building problems even before the crane disaster.
Phoenix Rigging & Erecting LLC, Kast Construction, LLC, and Maxim Crane Works LP are being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Fort Lauderdale Police investigated but found no criminal conduct.
De La Torre was the father of a five-year-old girl and two-year-old boy and traveled to Florida form his home in Georgia for work
'God took you from me & I'll never know why. I will love you for the rest of my life. You were a great dad, an annoyingly funny best friend, the best provider and the love of my life,' his wife Joselyn Farias wrote
Castillo's lawyer Judd Rosen was displeased that no one would be held criminal liable for the crane collapse.
'When these types of things happen as a community, we have to look and say, what are we doing to make sure it does not happen again?' he said.
'Because right now, I have not heard anything about any criminal charges, and where is the accountability?'
Castillo in April sued the companies involved in the project for $50 million, claiming their negligence caused the accident and they failed to protect the public.
It claimed Kast 'negligently and carelessly allowed an unsafe condition on its construction site and/or negligently and carelessly operated and/or constructed and/or installed and/or supervising the use of the crane equipment such that it came crashing down onto traffic below'.
Castillo's lawyers claimed the crane wasn't properly inspected, assembled, or moved, and that shortcuts were made to finish the building 'on an unreasonably accelerated schedule'.
Mark Cerezin's Tesla was also hit by the crane as he drove behind the other Tesla, but he was uninjured
The crane piece fell from a 43-story apartment building that was under construction, planning to house mostly seniors along with shops
The $151 million project was plagued with delays, lawsuits, and design and building problems even before the crane disaster
De La Torre was the father of a five-year-old girl and two-year-old boy and traveled to Florida form his home in Georgia for work.
'God took you from me & I'll never know why. I will love you for the rest of my life. You were a great dad, an annoyingly funny best friend, the best provider and the love of my life,' his wife Joselyn Farias wrote.
'Your smile and laugh will forever live in my mind and heart. Your love is craaied through our kids and they will miss you so much. They are tough chunk babies and will continue to live on for you.
'I love you, and I will come to you when it's my time to rest with you.'
